The Bitter End

by James Loscombe

  9

  The cobbled lane had been invaded on each side by long green weeds that climbed through the gates and fences. Between the stones yellow dandelions bunched together, impossibly growing through ancient mortar. It was dark but the moon offered enough light for them to see by. Beyond the overgrown gardens there were crumbling houses that had been old before the vamps came. Little cottages with faded wooden shutters, it wasn't even possible to guess what colour they had been. Some of them didn't look any bigger than the long boats.

  Ben walked at the back of the group behind Kris. Now that Sandra had gone the others didn't seem to care what happened to her but he remembered his promise. They walked along the narrow path towards wherever Daniel was leading them. The cold night air had a bite to it and he hoped that wherever they were going it would be inside.

  A church stood at the end of the lane in what once would have been a clearing. Now the land had begun to reclaim the space and soon it would succeed in doing so. They walked towards the church. It was mostly intact save for a few broken windows. A heavy door barred their way.

  "Is it safe?" said Aaron.

  "Safer than out here," said Daniel in his gruff way. They were all tired and in pain, two of them still needed medical help and they were a long way from home. Aaron stared at Daniel until he relented. "Alright, I'll go and have a look. You'll not be any safer out here though."

  "Thank you," said Aaron.

  Daniel pushed open the door. It creaked loudly in the otherwise silent village. He looked back at them briefly and then slipped into the darkness. Once, before vamps had existed, people had believed they were scared of churches or crosses. A stupid idea really but he shuddered to think how many people had probably died putting it to the test.

  They waited for Daniel to return. A long time seemed to pass. Somewhere an owl hooted and a twig snapped, it might have been a vamp but it was more likely to be a fox or some other animal grown brave since humans had left the village. Animals had done well out of the situation; the vamps had no interest in them and there weren't enough humans to be a threat. Even so Ben reached for his gun. The sudden movement jarred his shoulder and reminded him that he was still in pain.

  He felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Aaron looking at him. "It's okay," he whispered. He was holding his own gun. Ben nodded but hoped Aaron wouldn't wander off to investigate the noise.

  Aaron stayed where he was and before too much longer the church door opened again and Daniel came out. "It's all clear," he said and held the door open for them to enter one by one. Aaron brought up the rear and Ben thought he heard him say something to Daniel as he closed the door behind them.

  Inside the chapel it was cold and dark. The grey stones seemed to retain the cold and project it inwards. Ben followed Anthony limping to the front where they found candles and matches to light them. Aaron and Daniel appeared at the other end, delayed by whatever secret conference they had been having.

  Ben sat down on a hard, cold bench near Kris. He suddenly felt exhausted and the pain in his ankle and arm flared up again promising him that rest would not be as simple as closing his eyes and drifting off. Aaron came and sat next to him so he didn't even get the chance to try.

  "How you holding up?"

  He tried to shrug but his shoulder had started to stiffen and it came out more like a grimace.

  "Let's take a look," said Aaron, pealing back the remains of his shirt. "A flesh wound," he said. "You should be fine."

  Ben nodded. He wasn't really listening. Whether Aaron thought he was going to be fine or not didn't matter. What were they going to do if he wasn't; shoot him. "What's going on here?" he said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "This place, you knew it was here, didn't you? Have you been here before?"

  Aaron shook his head and Ben thought he was telling the truth.

  "Daniel then?"

  Aaron said nothing.

  "He has, hasn't he?"

  "Not for a long time. Not since before."

  'Before', it didn't need an explanation, everyone's before was the same now: before the vamps, before the end of the world. Except Ben didn't really think of it like that, he was younger, maybe that was it, but to him it seemed more like the start of the world.

  "So you knew we were going to be attacked?"

  "Not like that. Normally they just try to talk us into going back with them, we refuse and they leave us to it."

  "You've done this before?"

  "Not exactly. A few trial runs as far as Reading, nothing very exciting."

  That made sense, really it would have been foolish to begin an expedition of this scale without testing the water. Which was of course what he had done. And he would find himself permanently on the back foot because of it.

  A gust of cold wind passed them and he shivered despite himself. "Are you sure this place is safe?"

  "As safe as you can get on dry land." He stood up and looked about to clap Ben on the shoulder but, perhaps remembering his injury, thought better of it. "Try to get some rest," he said. "We need to make an early start tomorrow."

  He nodded. "What's the plan?"

  But Aaron just smiled and then walked away.

  He spent the night on the floor. At first he tried to sleep on the pew but found it too narrow. He kept dreaming of falling. The floor was colder but at least he could spread out how he wanted.

  That night he woke only once, to the sound of sobbing coming from the far side of the room. At first he thought it had to be Kris but when he opened his eyes he saw her asleep on the floor nearby. When he looked up he saw Daniel at the foot of the steps beneath the stage sobbing into his hands.

  Ben closed his eyes and tried to forget that he'd seen it but the image wouldn't leave him. He dreamed of a crying mountain, the tears running down its slopes and washing the world away.

  The next morning they were up and ready to go before it was light. Even though there had been no sign of vamp activity during the night they agreed that it would be better to wait until after sunrise.

  Ben was hungry. His body ached and he wanted nothing more than a comfortable bed and a cuddle with Mary. But he was aware that they were still at the beginning of their journey and they were off to a bad start. What had started as a two week round trip had become something much longer. They would be lucky if they made it back inside of a month and, when they got back, there was nothing to guarantee they would be welcome.

  They passed through the rest of the village in silence. The early morning sun did not improve its appearance but Daniel didn't seem to mind. He walked ahead of them with a wistful look in his eye and Ben began to suspect that he knew why he had been crying.

  He led them through the heart of the village, a market place now overgrown, wooden stalls rotted beneath the weeds and made it look like land choral. Bees and other insect buzzed around, darting from flower to flower. It looked as if the bee population was another that had improved without human interference.

  The village sloped gently down hill and Daniel appeared to be in no rush. Aaron sighed from time to time but was, on the whole, patient. It took until lunch time for them to reach the river. There were boats there but most of them had been destroyed, either due to lack of maintenance or sabotage. There was one, shining example, however that stood alone in the middle of the river.

  It was bigger than even the hulk had been. A fresh coat of white paint had been applied to the hull and in shined brightly in the mid-day sun. It was beautiful. Certainly better than the long boat they had been in that was destroyed. Had this always been the plan, he wondered.

  They followed the path down to the river and then he could see that there were people on the boat already. Three men of a similar age to him, checking ropes and cables. Daniel and Aaron approached the vessel while Ben stayed back with Anthony and Kris. He was impressed but confused.

  There were rumoured to be other communities in the area but, as far as he was aware, that was all they were; rumours. He had
seen no sign of them in any of his wanderings. Yet here were three men he had never met aboard a boat that he was sure he would have remembered and Daniel and Aaron seemed to know them.

  They waved at each other and Daniel accepted a hand up and onto the ship. He stood on the roof and spoke to the man who had helped him over while the other two men carried on about their work. While this was going on Aaron wandered back up the hill to them.

  "We should make good progress in this," he said.

  Ben nodded but kept his eyes on Daniel and the men.

  A few minutes later Daniel turned and waved them aboard. Aaron led with Ben bringing up the rear. They had to help Anthony up, his shoulder was too weak to support him, and Kris showed little interest in the fact they were boarding another boat. Introductions were made; the captain was a little man called Joel Thresher, the two boys were his sons Martin and Alexander. Mrs Thresher was a portly woman called Samantha who wouldn't let anyone else near her kitchen, not even to make tea.

  The boat was called The Robinson Crusoe and, as they settled in, Joel explained how they had spent the last twenty years travelling up and down the river. They knew all about Sanctuary, of course, but had no interest in settling anywhere at the moment.

  An hour after boarding they were washed and dressed in clean clothes. Martin and Alexander untied the ropes and the engine thrummed into life. They were off again and this time, Ben thought, infinitely more prepared.

  The Threshers knew all about the dam. They had, in fact, discovered it independently of Aaron and Anthony as it blocked the course they had taken in previous years without trouble.

  They hadn't known, or assumed, it was the work of vamps, however. It seemed most likely to be down to the village down river. Although why they would want to dry out their stretch of the river was a mystery but Joel had been determined to find out and took his family to do so.

  As luck had it Aaron and Anthony had been on their way to the dam to show it to Daniel and the two groups met mid-way between the two points. Initial caution soon gave way to friendly conversation and eventually, as they worked out who must have built it.

  The Threshers had been moored in the little village for more than six months which was longer than any of them cared to be tied to a single location. So they were happy to be on their way again. Ben, for his part was cautiously optimistic that they would be little more than two weeks aboard the smart boat.

  Mrs Thresher cleaned and treated their wounds and forbade them from taking shifts at the tiller for at least three days. Under her watchful eye Ben had little to do during the long days except sleep and walk up and down the boat. In fact for the rest of the first day all he did was sit, drinking strong tea and watching his shattered ankle swell to twice its normal size.

  On the second day he managed to sneak away from Mrs Thresher and go up on deck where he found Aaron and Joel talking at the tiller. He had something on his mind that he wanted to ask them about.

  "Have you got a minute," he said as he walked towards them.

  Joel turned towards him and then back to Aaron. "I need to check on the boys," he said and then shuffled away with the careless movements of someone who has spent most of their life on a boat.

  Ben smiled at him as he passed and then hobbled over to Aaron.

  "What's on your mind?" he said.

  He had been thinking about it for the last twenty-four hours but out in the fresh air with the countryside rushing past he couldn't work out how to begin. So he said something else entirely. "What's Dan's story?"

  "How do you mean?"

  Ben shrugged. "I saw him crying in the church."

  Aaron nodded and rubbed a hand over the brown and grey stubble growing on his chin. "He used to live in the village. He was the vicar."

  Ben thought about the way Daniel had handled a gun, about how comfortable he had been killing people.

  "Don't look so surprised," said Aaron. "None of us are who we used to be."

  He supposed that was right. It was just different for him; he hadn't had a life before so he had nothing to compare himself to. For the first time he wondered what he would have become if the world hadn't ended. What would he be doing now if he didn't have to help save the village from vamps?

  "We're not just getting weapons to fight the vamps, are we?" he said.

  Aaron studied him and shook his head.

  "When were you going to tell me?"

  "When I trusted you enough."

  It seemed strange that he had been taken this far if he wasn't trusted. "You don't trust me?"

  Aaron shrugged. "The General's your brother in-law. You still trust him?"

  Ben considered his answer carefully. He had trusted Nicholas, never particularly liked him, admittedly, but he'd always thought he had the best interest of Sanctuary at heart. But he hadn't wanted to do anything about the dam and he'd probably tried to kill them for doing it anyway. He shook his head, "not anymore."

  Aaron smiled, apparently it was the right answer. "You don't know the half of what he's done," he said cryptically.

  "Like what?" he said.

  "You know he rigged the election?"

  "How could he?"

  Aaron shrugged. "His people counted the votes didn't they?"

  Honestly Ben had no idea. He wasn't the least bit interested in politics. He hadn't even voted. "So you're going to overthrow him?

  "A coup-de-tat," said Aaron.

  "Which you need weapons for."

  Aaron nodded.

  "So what happens then? You take over as General?"

  "Me? No way, I'm not a leader. We hold a proper election, let the people decide. We don't want to force anyone to do anything they aren't comfortable with; we just want proper democracy," he said.

  It sounded reasonable to Ben. His ankle was starting to hurt and the mist was returning, falling low over the river and blocking his view of the countryside they passed through.

  "What do you think?" said Aaron.

  Ben realised this was it, he wondered what would happen if he gave an answer Aaron didn't like. Would he be thrown overboard? Left somewhere remote with no way of getting home and warning Nicholas. He realised he wouldn't have to find out. He nodded, "I'm with you." And that was the last time they discussed the matter.

  Ben went back inside to rest his ankle. He found Mrs Thresher waiting with hot tea and a stern look on her face.

  "I told you to stay off that leg," she said.

  "Sorry Mrs Thresher," he said.

  "And for god sake call me Sam, okay?"

  He nodded and she handed him the cup of tea. He sat down in the chair and she helped him put his foot up on the stool.

  "Do you want anything to eat?" she said.

  He didn't, he was suddenly very tired. He had all the answers he needed now and he wanted to think about what they meant. "No thank you," he said and he closed his eyes and fell asleep. When he woke up hours later there was a fresh cup of tea on the table in front of him and a sandwich.

  10

  The days passed quickly aboard The Robinson Crusoe. Ben hardly saw the others as they moved like ghosts between his dreams. They all had work to do and shifts to take on the tiller except him and Anthony who was confined to his bed in a different room. Even Kris pitched in: the younger Thresher, Martin, took her under his wing and set about teaching her everything he knew about boats. She took to it gladly, Ben suspected she was glad to have something to take her mind off Sandra.

  He dwelled on what Aaron had revealed to him, about Nicholas and the corruption of Sanctuary. There were vamps building a dam that would remove their watery safety. It seemed as if everything had changed now and he didn't know if he could go back to living that life.

  Through the days he watched Joel and Sam working with practiced ease to keep the boat running. He saw them as him and Mary and the boys as his boys. They could do it, he thought, for a few years at least. It would be good for Adam and Zack to experience something beyond Sanctuary. He could teach them to
hunt and how to run a boat.

  He spent many happy hours day dreaming about a new life on the river with only a nagging question about whether Mary would want to do it. Eventually, however, Mrs Thresher decided that his ankle was healed enough for him to be put to work and he had to adjust to living in the present again.

  He clambered onto the deck to find Daniel, Aaron and Joel waiting for him. It was a dull morning, clouds hung low and threatened rain. There were buildings on either side of the canal, windows intact but covered in blue and red graffiti which Ben couldn't translate.

  "What's going on?" he said, because it seemed like they were waiting for him to say something. The boat was drifting slowly with the current and he realised that the engine had been switched off.

  "Food and fuel run," said Joel.

  Ben's ankle gave a dull twinge at the very mention of the word 'run'. The swelling had gone down but it still hurt if he stood up for too long. He didn't say anything but nodded.

  "The Thresher's have been coming here for years," said Aaron. "Don't worry, there won't be any trouble."

  "Who's worried?" said Ben with a bravado that he didn't feel. The promise of there being no trouble did not fill him with confidence.

  The boat stopped in the middle of the canal beneath a bridge which had once been painted black but was now a rusted brown. Mrs Thresher and Kris came on deck to wish them luck because Sam was a traditional woman and would under no circumstances allow Kris to go with them. Ben was pleased to see Kris looking healthier, she had colour in her cheeks and her eyes no longer seemed so vacant.

  The two younger Threshers, with guns strapped to their backs, climbed up onto the bridge. They scanned the area and reported back that it was all clear.